Weekly docetaxel with concomitant radiotherapy in patients with inoperable oesophageal cancer.

Introduction: To evaluate the efficacy and tol- erability of weekly docetaxel concurrent with radiother- apy in inoperable oesophageal cancer patients. Material and methods: Thirty-four oesophageal cancer patients with co-morbid medical conditions, locally advanced tu- mours (T4) or advanced age (older than 75 years) re- ceived docetaxel (20 mg/m 2 weekly) plus concurrent ra- diotherapy (2 Gy daily, to a total dose of 66 Gy). Twenty-two patients (64%) were stage III, 19 of whom had T4 tumours. Results: Twenty-seven patients (79%) completed the planned chemoradiotherapy treatment. Nine patients (26%) achieved a complete response and 8 (24%) achieved a partial response, for an overall re- sponse rate of 50%. Median survival was 6 months, and 1-year survival was 35%. Patients with T4 tumours had significantly shorter survival than other patients: 5 months for T4 tumours vs. 11 months for T1-3 (p=0.04). Grade 3-4 oesophagitis occurred in 6 patients (17%). There were two treatment-related deaths due to radiation pneumonitis. Conclusions: Docetaxel plus concurrent radiotherapy is active in poor-prognosis oe- sophageal cancer patients, with a lower incidence of se- vere oesophagitis than with cisplatin-based chemoradio- therapy regimens. This schedule can be considered, especially in patients with non-T4 tumours who are not candidates for oesophageal resection.